Topic: Phil says that TAR20 is "in the top three of all seasons ever."

[slayton]

The last time that I remember Phil mentioning seasons that were notable to him was around the end of TAR14, and I agreed with his assessment at the time

I was shocked by this interview with Phil, where he said that TAR20 was "in the top three of all seasons ever."

What do you all think?

[Prophet]

It definitely is!

[Declive]

I really don't think so.

It was nice to see Dave and Rachel winning everything , because they really are nice people , but this season had too much weak teams, IMO

[Mug Costanza]

The direct quote from the article slayton posted is:

"This has got to go in the top three of all seasons ever, just with the drama and the cast."

For me, I have to agree there. Between Brendon & Rachel, Vanessa & Ralph,  and Art & JJ, there was enough drama to last for a few seasons.

In all seriousness though, I was thoroughly disappointed with nearly everything about TAR19... the cast, the locations, the challenges, etc. It was very disheartening, since TAR is (obviously ) my favorite show, and I thought the show had finally lost its magic for me. But after seeing this season, I couldn't have been happier. There was the occasional dumb challenge every now and then, but overall, I really felt this was a very strong season.

I voted 'yes' in the poll, and if I really sat down and thought about it, maybe it wouldn't be in my top 3, but it would absolutely make my top 5. It definitely restored my faith in this show after the disappointment that was TAR19, that's for sure.

[Best Loser]

I don't know if it's one of the top three, I'd have to think about that, but I know that it is probably my favorite double digit season (I haven't seen 11 and 12 yet). In the top five I'd say.

[choroneko]

This season has a weak cast. 3/4 of them are not memorable. And the editing is super horrible!
The locations & some tasks were fantastic & gorgeous though.
In my top 10 but not top 3.
TAR 5, 11 & 17 are my top 3.

[AmazingRace]

I beg to differ with Phil.

I would say Top 10.

[supah]

for me, its a yes and no

BEFORE TAR20, my top 5 was

1. TAR10
2. TAR12
3. TAR5
4. TAR7
5. TAR17

AFTER TAR20, my top 5 is

1. TAR10
2. TAR12
3. TAR5
4. TAR20
5. TAR7

so yes, it was a great season, but not in my top 3

cast - yes, the cast age range was from 25-45, but it truly was an entertaining cast. there were loveable teams, and teams we loved to hate
BUT despite the boot order, i was happy with the outcome, and the final 3 were the 3 strongest teams and they deserved their spot there
and an awesome team won

locations - Argentina, Paraguay, Italy, Germany, Azerbaijan, Tanzania, India, Japan, Hawaii (if you ask me, those are some pretty diverse locations)
so yes i LOVED the places they went, Paraguay and Azerbaijan were well used, and both India legs were my favourite out of all the times the race has been there
and i can't forget TANZANIA! <3

challenges - BIG step up from recent seasons, out of the WHOLE race, there were about 5 total duds which were pretty bad tasks, but other than that the challenges were awesome, all challenges in Paraguay, Germany, India, Japan and Hawaii were brilliant, and the leg architecture in the majority of legs was well done

sorry for rambling, i just thought it was a really good season 

[AmazingRace]

TAR10 is in my Top 3 too! 

[supah]

TAR10 is in my Top 3 too! 

TAR10 was hands down my favourite season of all time, absolutely amazing 
not even kidding, i could write an essay about why it was simply the best

but back to topic 

[Charlie90]

TAR10 is in my Top 3 too! 

TAR10 was hands down my favourite season of all time, absolutely amazing 

but back to topic 

Gotta agree on that one. TAR10 is what got me hooked. So for me it's:

1-TAR10
2-TAR5
3-TAR6 Or TAR11

[starrynight]

I haven't done any exact comparisons.  But while it is one of the better ones overall, I would say it probably isn't in the top 5.  The cast make it good, but they didn't really travel that much compared to the classic ones.  So not enough countries (including no cold climate one), the tasks where good at times (but also too many budget tasks, needed some more spectacular ones in the more boring legs).  Also some legs seemed too short, and I liked it more when they navigated themselves over longer distances.  2 or 3 reasonably suspenseful endings, but many others depended on editing tricks to make them look close (often not that convincing).

My favourites would definitely include 3 and 7 (very strong final 3s with big characters), 3 might be my favourite.  11 and 12 weren't bad either, and 5 is pretty good.  All of those might be ahead of 20 for me.

[Kiwi Jay]

Having watched all seasons I think it is a Top 10 season but not Top 3. For me its:

1. TAR5
2. TAR3
3. TAR10
4. TAR17
5. TAR18
6. TAR7
7. TAR20
8. TAR12
9. TAR1
10. TAR11
11. TAR19
12. TAR14
13. TAR6
14. TAR2
15. TAR9
16. TAR13
17. TAR4
18. TAR15
19. TAR16
20. TAR8

[Air]

My top 6:

TAR11
TAR10
TAR17
TAR5
TAR7
TAR20

(I have not watched 8-9, 12-16)

[kevin2012]

While I love TAR20 and it is one of the better post TAR all-stars seasons, it is NOT in the top 3 of my favorite seasons.

[scruffs]

I think Phil is just into a "recency effect." That's why he said it... for me best TAR is TAR 9.... and also the family edition...

[starrynight]

I haven't seen 10 yet, I did like Dustin and Kandice in 11.

[supah]

I haven't seen 10 yet, I did like Dustin and Kandice in 11.

you should definitely watch it  its my personal favourite season and I'm sure others loved it as well
diverse and awesome cast, incredible locations and great challenges
Dustin and Kandice MADE TAR10, so did David and Mary, Cho Bros and BAMA 

[Katarzyna]

It's a hit & miss season. It was a big improvement from the last two seasons but still missing something.
Probly, my top 5 or 6.

[Glamazon Racer]

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. While TAR20 was a great season, and a HUGE improvement on its predecessor, it doesn't even come anywhere near the best seasons.

Bearing in mind that I haven't seen TAR1, I rank the other 19 seasons in this order:

1. TAR3
2. TAR6
3. TAR5
4. TAR7
5. TAR12
6. TAR18
7. TAR15
8. TAR11
9. TAR17
10. TAR13
11. TAR4
12. TAR20
13. TAR2
14. TAR9
15. TAR14
16. TAR8
17. TAR10
18. TAR16
19. TAR19

[apskip]

Everybody gets to express their own opinions with the proviso that they are unlikely to change anyone else's opinion. Although I do not agree with Prophet on which two seasons were better, I certainly do consider AR20 to be in the top 3 so far.

[Jimmer]

I feel TAR20 was a good season. It had very unique and difficult tasks, while some were bad. It was definitely a step up from TAR19. The cast, I thought, was memorable, however, did not have an old team. It provided some drama, which I thought was also an improvement from the calm cast of TAR19. It was a good season, but I can't say top 3 because I have only seen post All-Stars episodes and the Family Edition.

[TARismyfavoriteshow]

TAR10 is in my Top 3 too! 

TAR10 was hands down my favourite season of all time, absolutely amazing 

but back to topic 

Gotta agree on that one. TAR10 is what got me hooked. So for me it's:

1-TAR10
2-TAR5
3-TAR6 Or TAR11

It's crazy how opinions can differ so much. I rewatched season 10 recently and found myself a little bored with it, and also with season 11.

Off the top of my head, my top 3 may be 9, 18, and 7. Which I'm sure no one agrees with.

[bcp19]

TAR10 is in my Top 3 too! 

TAR10 was hands down my favourite season of all time, absolutely amazing 

but back to topic 

Gotta agree on that one. TAR10 is what got me hooked. So for me it's:

1-TAR10
2-TAR5
3-TAR6 Or TAR11

It's crazy how opinions can differ so much. I rewatched season 10 recently and found myself a little bored with it, and also with season 11.

Off the top of my head, my top 3 may be 9, 18, and 7. Which I'm sure no one agrees with.

I remember disliking Rob's cocky attitude when he and Amber were on the race Season 7 and A.S., but I recently rewatched Season 1-12, and fouind I actually liked them as competitors now.  Part of it may be from watching him and Russell on Survivor in recent seasons.  Part of it I am sure is that at the time EVERYTHING was R/A, Survivor, talk of their wedding, a short stint where he tried to become a poker player, then amazing race and finally their wedding.  A lot of people at that time were "Enough already!"  I think that is part of the problem with Brenchel... too much too soon.  Plus, if CBS televises their wedding, 

[Glamazon Racer]

One of the reasons why I rank TAR20 so low (in my previous post) is that because the eleven seasons I ranked above it had so many epic legs with amazing tasks and such. TAR20 was the best season ever in terms of drama, but I found it to be severely lacking in some of the tasks.

Each of the eleven seasons that I ranked above TAR20 had multiple legs which were close to flawless, in my opinion, whereas TAR20 had only two legs which were particularly memorable - those being Leg 3 and Leg 4. There were some interesting tasks on the rest of the race, but for every good task on a particular leg, there was also a bad task (for example, we had an epic Bollywood dancing Detour on Leg 9, followed by the easiest Detour I've ever seen). There were a few too many flaws with the tasks for me to rank TAR20 any high, unfortunately.

[SuperTux]

WAY BETTER THAN THE DISGUSTING S19

[Declive]

I don't agree with Phil.

A team won 8 legs...

[Glamazon Racer]

A team won 8 legs...

That did take something away from the season as well. As much as I loved Davechel, I don't particularly enjoy one team dominating.

[Prophet]

If you were on the Race would you want to dominate, or would you try not to win some legs...just to make things more interesting for the viewers?

[Katarzyna]

What I feel about Season 20 is, it's like it has only 5 teams the whole race. The air time was dominated by the top 5 teams. It's not very fun to watch seeing the same faces again & again.

[JordanJones123]

My top 5 favourite seasons of all time would have to be

1. TAR 16
2. TAR 1
3. TAR 18
4. TAR 3
5. TAR 9

I enjoyed TAR 16 because I thought it was perfect - Diverse, cool locations, good teams, and there was some drama. I also liked that the winner came from no where, and that there were quite a few night time legs.

TAR 1 was enjoyable because I watched it after i had seen seasons 13-17... It was so slow, so weird, but yet i enjoyed it so much! i dont no why, but the slow pace of the show was awesome.

TAR 18 was good because there were some seriously good locations, epic challenges from the word go, and in my eyes, it was the most demanding season ever. I loved it.

TAR 3 was good because of the teams. I don't really no why i enjoyed it so much, but i loved ken and gerrard!

TAR 9 was awesome simply because of the BJ Tyler - Eric Jeremy rivalry. They also visited my hometown which was cool!

[Oliveira]

My top5:

1. TAR18 (An amazing all stars, with the most difficulty tasks and epic moments)   
2. TAR14 (One of the most competitive final four, episodes 9, 10 and 11 are gold)
3. TAR20 (Amazing cast, with competitive teams and amazing locations)
4. TAR5 (Charla & Mirna, Collin & Christie, Linda & Karen, Chip & Kim, just amazing)
5. TAR1 (Because it's epic, first one, the start of everything)

[kevin2012]

My post all-star seasons ranking:

1. season 12
2. season 20
3. season 14
4. season 18
6. season 16
5. season 17
6. season 19
7. season 15
8. season 13

It's definitely in the top 3 of recent seasons, however

My complete ranking:

1. season 3
2. season 1
3. season 5
4. season 12
5. season 6
6. season 20
7. season 14
8. season 18
9. season 10
10. season 16
11. season 11
12. season 17
13. season 8
14. season 19
15. season 15
16. season 9
17. season 7
18. season 2
19. season 13
20. season 4

Honestly, I'm surprised how high season 20 is, it is no doubt a really good season imo, but not quite top 3.

Side note: season 4 is the only season I didn't watch all the way through. It was so boring and uninteresting I actually stopped at about three quarters in.

[NoluckBoston]

I have to disagree with Phil. I really did not care for this cast. The drama was one thing. What really turned me off, was how terrible most of the teams were at playing the game. I think Dave and Rachael dominated, because they were up against some pretty weak teams. So many mistakes were made by others that they almost had zero competition.

Every leg seems more of a race to the bottom, then a race to the top.

I doubt it will happen, but if Dave and Rachael are brought back for an All Star season, we will then get to see how good they really are against real competition.

[Katarzyna]

Season 17 had the most well done editing. All teams had an ample airtime. They captured their personalities very well.
And the route is very diverse in terms of geography, location & ambiance.

[starrynight]

What I feel about Season 20 is, it's like it has only 5 teams the whole race. The air time was dominated by the top 5 teams. It's not very fun to watch seeing the same faces again & again.

And probably the same one dimensional view of those 5 teams most of the time as well.  I could enjoy the season for what it was, but it was also limited in some respects.

[randomperpie]

I consider TAR 20 to be a slightly-better-than-average season. Nice diverse route (South America, Bavaria, Middle East, Africa, India, Japan), decent enough teams (I think all of the top 7 had a decent fan following), and okay tasks. I wouldn't put it in my top 3, probably in the 7-10 range. I'd say the 4th best post all-star season, after 14, 17 and 18. (haven't watched TAR 12 yet though).

[kevin2012]

I consider TAR 20 to be a slightly-better-than-average season. Nice diverse route (South America, Bavaria, Middle East, Africa, India, Japan), decent enough teams (I think all of the top 7 had a decent fan following), and okay tasks. I wouldn't put it in my top 3, probably in the 7-10 range. I'd say the 4th best post all-star season, after 14, 17 and 18. (haven't watched TAR 12 yet though).

boy, are you missing out. If you do watch it, it's one of the best, imo right up there with some of the classics (seriously)

[starrynight]

I liked 12, though the 3rd place finisher wasn't that interesting to me at least they weren't annoying I guess.

[Katarzyna]

I liked TAR 12 too. The route is beautiful. And I enjoyed Nathan & Jen's bickering in a very weird way. Atleast, they learned a lesson. They should never be together, ever.

[addie]

My list of seasons I've watched from good to bad:

1. TAR17
2. TAR5
3. TAR12
4. TAR14
5. TAR20
6. TAR3
7. TAR15
8. TAR16
9. TAR4
10. TAR1
11. TAR19

[asar]

I'm belonging to the minority here. Imo this was one of the worst seasons ever.

Mark and Bopper are pretty much only team I will remember in future from this season.
I didn't like the gimmick japan leg they put in this season at all and tbh I think TAR US has had enough of India.
I did like the fact that Fastforward was bigger focus this season.
I'm not really fond of seeing overly dominant teams either. I mean good for Dave and Rachel that they won alot but it's getting abit too predictable when they win most legs just like season 13 and 15.
The tasks this season had were okay. Nothing magnificient like season 14 but interesting enough to keep me watching the show.

Unfortunatly this season drops to my worst 5 season list.
Not in any specific ranking order here:
1. Season 20
2. Season 13
3. Season 15
4. Season 19
5. Season 8

[randomperpie]

I consider TAR 20 to be a slightly-better-than-average season. Nice diverse route (South America, Bavaria, Middle East, Africa, India, Japan), decent enough teams (I think all of the top 7 had a decent fan following), and okay tasks. I wouldn't put it in my top 3, probably in the 7-10 range. I'd say the 4th best post all-star season, after 14, 17 and 18. (haven't watched TAR 12 yet though).

boy, are you missing out. If you do watch it, it's one of the best, imo right up there with some of the classics (seriously)

So I've heard 

I'll watch it eventually, I'm going through TAR 7 now, started back in Decemeber with TAR 1, and going through to TAR 12 (might re-watch 13 as well, don't remember that one too much). I'll hopefully get it done by the end of the summer.

[Cocoa]

I haven't even watched TAR 1-4, and 6-7 religiously, but TAR 20 is definitely not on my Top 3.

I found these seasons enjoyable that TAR 20:
TAR 5
TAR 8
TAR 10
TAR 11
TAR 12
TAR 14

[Katarzyna]

TAR 14 had very fun tasks.
Party cab and karaoke with the lady boys in Bangkok. Super awesome!
And the order taking in Mandarin in China. That was very hard.

[Glamazon Racer]

If you were on the Race would you want to dominate, or would you try not to win some legs...just to make things more interesting for the viewers?

I know, obviously I don't blame Rachel & Dave for dominating, and I loved them, but it does make things slightly less interesting.

TAR 14 had very fun tasks.
Party cab and karaoke with the lady boys in Bangkok. Super awesome!
And the order taking in Mandarin in China. That was very hard.

I loved that karaoke task! Especially Jaime & Cara doing it!

But I hated that order taking task. How can they cast a Chinese-speaking team and have a task requiring teams to speak Chinese!?

[starrynight]

14 wasn't that bad, but I thought there was too much focus on Luke.

[Prairie Rose]

My top 3 races would be:

TAR16 - the first one I ever watched, so it holds a special place.
TAR9 - this season had a lot of great quotes, especially by BJ and Tyler.
TAR3 - one of the great 'oldie goldies'... I've been rewatching it recently and I like how the older seasons spent so much time showing the a lot of the interaction between the teams, especially at the start of the race. I miss seeing the teams racing to get to the airport for the first time and sizing each other up at the airport.

[Cocoa]

Season 17 had the most well done editing. All teams had an ample airtime. They captured their personalities very well.
And the route is very diverse in terms of geography, location & ambiance.

EXACTLY

[paldog123456]

Season 17 had the most well done editing. All teams had an ample airtime. They captured their personalities very well.
And the route is very diverse in terms of geography, location & ambiance.

EXACTLY

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Plus, this is the first season I completely watched when it was airing. I had watched a few episodes of season 16 with my mom, but we weren't really that interested in it. When we watched TAR 17, we fell in love with it. It is also the only show my Dad will watch.

[starrynight]

All teams had an ample airtime. They captured their personalities very well.

It's just that I wish some like Chad and Nick had less airtime and less chance to show much of their personalities.


And I do wonder which other series Phil would put in his top 3.

[starrynight]

Those who don't like Phil stirring things up among teams should see that it is nothing new, he was doing it on the finishing line mat in season 16.

[docol]

AR20 IS the greatest race ever..! i loved the cast..the winners, the tasks, the route of course the friction between the teams...it had a little bit from everything to make an AMAZING season..! DEFINETELY this season tops my TOP3 along with season 10 and season 14